The present invention relates to an input control apparatus, a display control apparatus, and a display apparatus used for the control unit of an equipment for manufacturing semiconductor devices.
For example, in the photolithography process of the semiconductor device manufacturing processes, a resist coating process for forming a resist film on the surface of a semiconductor wafer (to be referred to as a wafer hereinafter) and a developing process for developing the wafer after the wafer coated with the resist film is exposed. The resist coating process and the developing process are conventionally performed by a predetermined sequence in a composite process system equipped with the corresponding process machines.
Sequence control in this system is generally performed by a control unit using a personal computer or the like. The control unit is connected to a man-machine interface such as a touch panel type display. System configuration editing, monitor method setting, and the like in the above respective processes are performed through this display.
In system configuration editing, for example, a series of processes and the processing contents of each process are displayed in the form of, e.g., a table. All the sequence processes are not often displayed due to a limited display area of the display. In particular, this tendency is more pronounced in a system having the composite process described above because the system has a large number of processes. For this reason, some of the series of processes are displayed, and at the same time, the remaining processes can be displayed by a so-called scroll function or the like.
A conventional display has a table to be scrolled and scroll buttons. The scroll buttons include line scroll buttons and page scroll buttons. Upon clicking on one line scroll button, the lines on the immediately preceding page are scrolled and displayed. Upon clicking on the other line scroll button, the lines on the immediately succeeding page are scrolled and displayed. Upon clicking on one page scroll button, the preceding pages are sequentially scrolled and displayed. Upon clicking on the other page scroll button, the succeeding pages are sequentially scrolled and displayed.
To prevent continuous scrolling upon clicking on a wrong button a plurality of number of times consecutively, e.g., to prevent 2-line or 2-page scrolling upon clicking on a wrong button two times consecutively a predetermined interval for regulating click-on is defined between the first click-on of a given button and the second click-on of the given button. For example, if this interval is about 0.3 sec, the second click-on of the given button within 0.3 sec after the first click-on of the given button is not counted or is regarded as an invalid input.
This regulation prohibits continuous scrolling of a plurality of lines or pages. That is, in continuously scrolling the display contents by a plurality of lines or pages, the above button is consecutively clicked on a plurality of number of times. The click-on within the above interval cannot be counted, and scrolling cannot advance at a desired speed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an input control apparatus, a display control apparatus, and a display apparatus which allow smooth, continuous inputs while preventing an operation error caused by consecutive click-ons.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an input control apparatus, a display control apparatus, and a display apparatus which allow smooth, continuous inputs while preventing an operation error caused by consecutive click-ons even if an input control unit and a display control unit are separately present.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an input control apparatus, a display control apparatus, and a display apparatus which allow smooth, continuous inputs properly using a commonly recognizable flag area while preventing an operation error caused by consecutive click-ons even if an input control unit and a display control unit are separately present and the input control unit and the display control unit have the flag area.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an input control apparatus, a display control apparatus, and a display apparatus which allow smooth, continuous inputs while preventing an operation error caused by consecutive click-ons in a touch panel type display for performing scrolling in accordance with the number of times inputs are made using an input button while displaying the input button.
More specifically, the present invention provides an input control apparatus, a display control apparatus, and a display apparatus which allow smooth, continuous scrolling of a plurality of lines or pages.
Furthermore, the present invention provides an input control apparatus, a display control apparatus, and a display apparatus which allows continuous scrolling of a plurality of lines or pages at a higher speed, and appropriately displaying a desired portion.
According to the present invention, an input control apparatus comprises an input detector for detecting a start and end of an input period, a period detector for detecting an elapse of a first period from the start of the input period and repeatedly detecting an elapse of a second period upon the elapse of the first period, and a determining machine for determining that an input is complete with only one input operation when the end of the input period is detected before the first elapse of the second period, and determining that an input operation is made every elapse of the second period when the input period continues.
A display control apparatus comprises an input control unit for performing input control and a display control unit for performing display control, wherein the input control unit comprises an input detector for detecting a start and end of an input period, a notification machine for notifying the display control unit of a detection result of the input detector, a period detector for detecting an elapse of a first period from the start of the input period and repeatedly detecting an elapse of a second period shorter than the first period upon the elapse of the first period, and a determining machine for determining that an input is complete with only one input operation when the end of the input period is detected before the first elapse of the second period, and determining that an input operation is made every elapse of the second period when the input period continues, and the display control unit comprises a reception machine for receiving notification of the detection result from the input control unit and a controller for controlling display in accordance with the received notification of the detection result.
A display apparatus comprises a touch panel type display, an input control unit for performing input control of the display, a display control unit for performing display control of the display, and a flag area which can be commonly recognized by the input control unit and the display control unit, wherein the input control unit comprises an input detector for detecting a start and end of an input period, a reflecting machine for reflecting a detection result of the input detector on the flag area, a notification machine for notifying the display control unit of the detection result, a period detection machine for detecting an elapse of a first period from the start of the input period on the basis of a recognition result of the flag area and repeatedly detecting an elapse of a second period shorter than the first period upon the elapse of the first period on the basis of the recognition result of the flag area, and a determining machine for determining that an input is complete with only one input operation when the end of the input period is detected before the first elapse of the second period, and determining that an input operation is made every elapse of the second period when the input period continues, and the display control unit comprises a reception machine for receiving notification of the detection result from the input control unit, a controller for controlling display in accordance with the received notification of the detection result, and a reflecting machine for reflecting the received detection result on the flag area.
A display apparatus comprises a touch panel type display, an input control unit for performing input control of the display, a display control unit for performing display control of the display, and a flag area which can be commonly recognized by the input control unit and the display control unit, wherein the input control unit comprises input detection means for detecting a start and end of an input period, a reflecting machine for reflecting a detection result of the input detector on the flag area when the end of the input period is detected, a notification machine for notifying the display control unit of the detection result, a period detector for detecting an elapse of a first period from the start of the input period on the basis of a recognition result of the flag area and repeatedly detecting an elapse of a second period shorter than the first period upon the elapse of the first period on the basis of the recognition result of the flag area, and a determining machine for determining that an input is complete with only one input operation when the end of the input period is detected before the first elapse of the second period, and determining that an input operation is made every elapse of the second period when the input period continues, and the display control unit comprises a reception machine for receiving notification of the detection result from the input control unit, a controller for controlling display in accordance with the received notification of the detection result, and a reflecting machine for reflecting the received detection result on the flag area when the received detection result represents the start of the input period.
Additional object and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The object and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.